Heather Buen - the Woman!

Resume and Portfolio for Heather Buen - Freelance Writer, Social Media Manager and Advocate, Communications manager with Dunning and Collections experience. Over ten years of marketing and communications experience along with social media consulting, blogging and freelance article writing expertise.

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Monday, July 25, 2016

I just wanted to get your attention and let you know that you can find my complete and updated resume, portfolio and teaching/consulting experience at my personal page over at heatherbuen.com. Any blog posts I have about career and workplace communication will be found over at my publication on Medium.com as a part of my 'Re-invention' process. You can find me over at The 'Re-Invention' Agent - speaking about change agent advocacy and life transition success.

Why Move?

When I first started all of this it was many moons ago and I began seriously blogging for money in 2010. I have built up an audience and through the bumps in the road, pregnancies, career changes and so on I have never stopped writing. Even when it became a chore, the voice never stopped and so I never stopped. I have evolved and some of that evolution was not very fun, but through it all and the grace of God I am here and I never stop evolving. I re-ivent and re-emerge and it's something I want to share with all of you. I admire the Mark Zuckerbergs of the world that challenge themselves and try something new. I guess I am in that boat. Stop by and read my thoughts over at Medium.com.

Friday, September 13, 2013

Google has done a fantastic job at capturing data. They are the #1 search engine and for good reason since they are the experts at finding out what it is you want to read about. I have used Google since I was in high school and no other search engine even comes close to providing answers to all of life's questions. It's not a surprise to figure out what it is you can learn from Google, especially about yourself. Just type in https://history.google.com/history/ and you will get an analysis of your search history.

Google Search History Information for my - Dallas Single Mom Examiner

This data about myself is pretty useful. Everything from my top queries via my Google Account as well as top clicks and searches. This is the tracking of all of my web activity. It shows where I have been and gives me an idea of my thoughts for today.

Why I feel that this says a lot about you is because you can almost tell where your moods have gone to for that day as well as what was important to you at that point in time. It divides it up into categories from news, shopping, blogs, travel and more.

It collects information on the following (taken from the Google Help Site)

Your activity

Browser details

Pages you visit

Searches on Google

Information about your search results, including private results

Ads you respond to by clicking the ad itself or completing a transaction on an advertiser’s site

Internet Protocol address

Browser type

Browser language

One or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser

My Google history definitely shows that I am a blogger and a writer with a lot of varied tastes. I think my tastes are eclectic and abundant. I'm so excited to get a glimpse into my days by having this tool.

Friday, April 26, 2013

I was speaking to a fellow coworker about Toastmasters and why she wants to improve her communication skills. One of the things she mentioned that I have found is prevalent in the workplace is how meeting norms and communication can change depending upon the social culture that is prevalent in a company or organization.

All meetings should follow a set of norms and when a meeting doesn't follow this, it can be confusing for new meeting participants and can affect productivity.

Some guidelines to follow are:

1) Start on Time

2) Give enough time when scheduling a meeting - nothing bugs people than inviting them to a meeting the day of or just a few minutes before it starts.

3) Know your audience - who are you inviting? Are they the appropriate people or do they know who should attend?

4) Have an agenda - an agenda helps people prepare their thoughts and ideas for the meeting. Invite people to add to agenda if need be. An agenda also helps individuals determine if they need to be there, if they can send a replacement in their place and or if they can answer questions if they cannot attend

5) Stay on topic

6) Take Notes and send out follow up notes after the meeting

These seem like very simple guidelines but I have been in so many meetings that don't follow some or all of these. The person I spoke with discussed her experience at a different company where meetings were more formal and the person that presented had the podium (the floor) and everyone waited for the presentation to be over before they had questions. The company that I am presently at has a different set of norms. Meetings can be very impromptu or they can be very formal depending upon the audience in the room.

Getting to know the audience your speaking to can make meetings very effective and productive.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

In the next few days I will be attending a lot of different conferences and events where I will be giving out and receiving many business cards. Many years ago I started my professional career in Hawaii, which follows many business etiquette rules associated with Asian cultural preferences, specifically Japanese. Here and there being in TX, I may have become more casual to the practice but I must reiterate how important your business card is - It's an extension of you!

The reason why I have to stress this is because business cards should be received and cared for in the same way you'd like to business - with care and compassion. I really take notice of how a person receives a card to demonstrate their character. Here's an example:

You are at a conference and a person has a binder full of business cards. They take your business card, quickly scan it and put it in their binder and quickly move on. OR they have a hole puncher and they quickly add it to a ring.

How would you feel if your business card was just another card in the pile? It doesn't feel very good. Take some time to really recognize someone and the value that they can provide for you. If it's someone that you don't know very well, follow their lead. Receive the business card in the same way that they gave you the business card.

Follow up
Business cards seem antiquated with the smartphones and the technology that we have today, however business cards are the personalized image we have of ourselves and our companies. So treat them with care and follow-up. Even if it's just to say Hi, follow up with them and contact them. Learn a little bit about their company and who they are and reference it when you contact them. Ask them if there's anything they need right now or would like a referral for something. It's not necessary to have a pitch but you are establishing a relationship.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Reid Hoffman, the cofounder of LinkedIn, shared this wonderful slide-share presentation about managing your career with an entrepreneurial mindset. This wednesday, 03/13, I will be presenting a speech in Toastmaster's entitled, "Don't Sell Yourself Short." This speech is my speech #9 and is meant to persuade individuals with an end task in mind. This goal includes some of the elements associated with what is in this presentation. This presentation is just phenomenal and I really wanted to share it here!

Qualifications

You have reached Heather's Portfolio and Resume. For her portfolio, please visit the links to the left for her writing style and samples. You will also see testimonials as well as her current resume posted. She is available for paid content writing, website writing, blog posts and articles as well as social media engagement for your business. To get in touch with her, please contact her via her contact button.

Qualifications for Marketing Management and Operations/Project Management/Content Development professional

Results-driven leader with over ten years of progressive experience related to communications and marketing operations that include directing sales growth for consumer energy offerings, driving the development, launch, and growth of technology offerings in the telecommunications industry and growing a contracting business associated with online content development, working with consumer brands and social media consulting. Consistently has achieved a track record of exceeding sales goals by as much as 200%. Exceptional communicator recognized for effectively presenting, educating and communicating to different audience levels ranging from executive to individual contributors in sales and marketing channels, credit and collections functions as well as in social media. Skilled in SAP/CRM technologies, Microsoft Office Programs, Windows Vista, MS Project, Visio and FrontPage; Adobe Photoshop. Areas of expertise include:

Project Planning / Management

Vendor Management

Promotions/Presentations

Product Launch / Marketing

Project Management

Training / Development

Market Research Analysis / Implementation

Content Development and Distribution

Quality Analysis/Quality Auditing

Sales/Marketing Campaign Analysis

Internet/Intranet Technologies

Internet/Intranet Publishing

Key Contributions

●Created the website Dallas Single Mom as an affiliate marketing website in 2011 that targets parents and families in the Dallas-Fort Worth area through events information, product reviews, deals and giveaways. Achieved monumental success by averaging anywhere from 25,000 to 30,000 pageviews a month via Google Analytics, achieving 5,262 Facebook Likes and 5,352 Twitter followers. Part of a list of preferred parenting bloggers and social media consultants with article writing experience with Examiner.com, Care.com and CBS Local.

●Effectively managed all dunning communications activities to TXU Energy customers in 2011 contributing to reducing bad debt expenses by 50% and continuing in 2012 on trend to be at least $21 million dollars under plan. Presented findings to executive leadership and continually fine tunes all communication processes for active and inactive collections.

●Effectively collaborated with consumer survey software to measure consumer reaction to sales activities and marketing activities at TXU Energy. Implemented survey tools into internal communication and information databases in order to provide better research and insight to the consumer product development and campaign management teams to determine pricing, campaign launch strategies and sales targets.

● In the first 6 months of 2009 at TXU Energy, operated in a dual role as acting Call Center Vendor Manager and Marketing Associate, taking on additional responsibility and exceeding sales results and sale per hour targets. Results - Outbound Acquisition sales were averaging 206% over goal for the 1Q2009

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About Me

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Professional Services/Consulting

Professional Services

I also provide businesses and personal bloggers with the tools needed to extend their brand presence via blogging and social media management. I can provide you statistics on my success and I can help you create excitement and engagement with your customers. Let me show you how! Contact Me!

Services available include:

Business Blogging

Content Development/Creation

Content Consulting for Internet and SEO

Social Media - Facebook and Twitter development and maintenance

Technology Skillsets

Blogger/Wordpress/Tumblr/Xanga

Ezine/Suite101/Kapost

Examiner.com

Feedblitz

Feedburner

Bloglines

LinkedIn

Google+

Facebook

Myspace

Flickr

Twitter

HTML/HTML Editors

YouTube

Digg

Del.icio.us

StumbleUpon

Reddit

Google and related tools (Analystics and Adwords)

Triberr

Pinterest

Alexa

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